Painting the Dream: From the Biblical Dream to Surrealism

“The theme of the dream, perhaps more than any other, has resulted in a very wide range of artistic variations,” writes Bergez, a French scholar and curator, at the start of this beautifully illustrated volume. In 200 chronological images, he discusses how portrayals of dreams have changed throughout time: French Baroque master Georges de La Tour drew inspiration for his oneiric paintings from biblical stories, whereas the 19th century English-born American Thomas Cole derived his landscapes from imagination and fantasy. Additionally, Bergez includes several artworks inspired by classic literature, such as Eugène Delacroix’s depiction of a scene from Hamlet, and astutely notes the dreamlike qualities in these renditions: “The sketchlike quality of the painting... with human figures vaguely situated in space... takes on the blurry outlines of a dream.” Bergez explains how works by the Surrealists, such as René Magritte and Salvador Dalí, were often connected to psychoanalysis “that almost explicitly referred to Freud.” Weaving open-ended questions throughout the text (“Who is the dreamer here—the sleeping woman, or the painter who images this theme?”), Bergez allows readers to draw their own conclusions. This is a revealing, contemplative historical survey of imagination depicted in Western art. [em](Oct.) [/em]